ECHL: Savannah Ghost Pirates vs. South Carolina Stingrays Recap | 3/9/24

Military Appreciation Night Savannah Ghost Pirates Vs. SC Stingray

This game marks the seventh of ten meetings between the Savannah Ghost Pirates and the South Carolina Stingrays. Before the game, the Pirates and Rays were tied 3-3, with the Pirates having a 22-29-4-1 and the Stingrays a 33-01-2-1 season. Well, not anymore. The Ghost Pirates were victorious over the Stingray, closing the game at 4-3.

What a game it was! Savannah won the first faceoff of the night with Sebastian Vidmar at the helm, marking Vidmar’s 200th game played in his professional career. At the same time, the Stingrays welcomed Marko Reifenberger to his first professional career game.

The Ghost Pirates are ranked sixth in the conference, while the Stingrays are sitting two spots ahead in fourth. Both teams have similar swarm defenses; however, Savannah has a higher-caliber goalie who has been getting plenty of AHL gameplay.

Savannah is still regrouping after a loss to the Greenville Swamp Rabbits, ending their four-game win streak, whereas the Stingrays are on a two-game win streak following a three-game loss. The Ghost Pirates still need to improve visually compared to the Stingrays in skating strength and puck handling. With this scenario still needing improvement, the night could have started better with Jesper Vikman in goal, sitting at a GAA of 2.67 and a save percentage of .0912%; we saw Sc Stingray Jonny Evans make the night’s first goal. This, however, was the only goal Vikman let in until the third period when the Ghost Pirates returned and scored four goals to South Carolina’s two in the same period. In the second period, we saw the Rays and the Ghost Pirates battle to get the puck in the net, with The Ghost Pirates outshooting the Stingrays twelve to five and a game total of 33 to 18 shots on goal.

In the third period, South Carolina scored the first of six total goals by both teams. Stingrays Tyson Empey scored first in this period, followed by Michael Kim, when Ghosties Nolan Valleau rallied the team and scored, only to be followed by goals from Ross Armour and Jordan Kaplan, with Peter Tischke scoring the game-winning goal at the end of the third period, preventing the game from going into overtime. South Carolina Goalie Garin Bjorklund struggled in the last period, closing the game with 29 saves and 33 shots on goal.

With a first-period penalty free, Savannah still seemed to be struggling on the power play in the second period, when they had yet to score on three different power-play opportunities. The Stingrays, being the more aggressive team tonight, had four penalties called and two power-play goals in the third period, taking full advantage of Savannah’s weaknesses and strengths. Ghost Pirates are still sitting at 17% on the power play with penalty kills at 77%, whereas the Stingray are at 24% with kills being 84%.

The Pirates’ scratches of the night saw Alex Gilmour, Nolan Welsh, Jordan Papirny, and Tanner Vescio. At the same time, the Rays had Reid Cooper, Kameron Keilly, Ryan Leibold, Jackson Leppard, and Beton Mass out of the game.

The South Carolina Stingrays take on the Atlanta Gladiators on March 10th, while Ghost Pirates meet the Gladiators on March 13th. The Ghost Pirates and Stingrays meet again on March 17th for St. Patrick’s Day.